Truespeech limitations?

[keerawa]

Truespeech apparently works like a permanent tongues spell.

Tongues:

This spell grants the creature touched the ability to speak and understand the language of any intelligent creature, whether it is a racial tongue or a regional dialect. The subject can speak only one language at a time, although it may be able to understand several languages. Tongues does not enable the subject to speak with creatures who don't speak. The subject can make itself understood as far as its voice carries. This spell does not predispose any creature addressed toward the subject in any way.

Would this allow someone with tongues or the Truespeech ability to understand intelligent animals and beasts such as familiars and wild-shaped druids? Or would that require 'Speak with animals', instead?

[Dazz]

It would need Speak with Animals--main reason being that you can only speak one language at a time which does, in fact, require the other creature to speak/understand a language. Of course, if an intelligent animal/beast has a language, truespeech works just fine. Just remember that many intelligent magical beasts can understand not speak, so you could speak to them and they couldn't respond (with words).

I.e. Wildshaped druids understand language but can't speak them--so no special bonus there. Familiars of a high enough level are odd--by RAW I would say no since technically it says they speak with their master "as if they shared a common language" but not that they actually have a language they share, though I would probably allow it to work in my games.